


The Cat Came Back

by crna_macka



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Gen, POV Third Person Limited, catmilla, holiday fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-12
Updated: 2014-12-12
Packaged: 2018-03-01 03:07:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2757239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crna_macka/pseuds/crna_macka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura is going home for the holidays and conveniently doesn't let her dad know that a hellmouth opened on campus. Or that she's bringing home a friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Cat Came Back

When Joseph Hollis arrives at Silas University, he doesn't make it past the edge of campus. The skies have been threatening rain all day, but Laura is waiting at the gate with all of her bags piled on the ground. She waves him to a stop, and as he's getting out she's already explaining, "I haven't been out here long, and I knew you'd be on time, you're always on time, and it's not supposed to start raining for another hour, I'm just so excited--"

"Yes, I see," he says, bemused. She is a whirlwind, hugging him then opening the passenger doors and dashing back to her luggage. He follows and marvels at how much _stuff_ one young lady can accumulate in a single term, a whole impossibly heavy duffel bag's worth, which he lugs to the car as Laura is returning for her backpack.

He gets the bag to fit longways across the back seat and turns to ask... well, he doesn't quite know what. It escapes him when he sees the cat in her arms, sitting comfortably but ears laid back as it glares at his daughter's beaming face. Laura has that too big, too excited smile that she always has when she's about to convince him to let her have something that she really wants but he really wishes she wouldn't. 

All Joseph can do is sigh. The cat glances at him, managing to convey mutual dissatisfaction with the impending arrangement.

"...I hope you don't mind," Laura has been saying. "Carm is _really_ good, I promise, you won't even know she's there. Well, you might, because she sheds a _lot_ , but I'll clean up after her. And I'll take care of everything. Feeding her and, you know. I can't just leave her in the dorm by herself for a month."

"Of course," Joseph agrees. 

Laura can barely contain herself, squealing happily while the cat in her arms tenses to squirm.

* * *

Carmilla sleeps - or pretends to sleep - through most of the six hour drive, declining Laura's perfectly safe lap for a precarious perch atop the duffel in the back. Laura is a little put out at first, but is soon distracted by trying to talk about the semester without actually _talking about the semester_.

Her father apparently hasn't been watching her journalism project, which is a good thing. Betty hates Silas and plans to transfer, but Laura would miss her new-found friends if he insisted on her leaving. Which he would, if he knew even half of what had happened. And she honestly isn't sure Silas University course credits would count anywhere else.

"Betty is transferring now, or after the spring term?" her dad interrupts, and Laura jumps at the chance to change the topic.

"Now! I guess she wanted to go to Princeton all along, which is weird, because I'm pretty sure Silas is _nothing_ like Princeton."

"Princeton is in _America_." Joseph sounds scandalized. Laura doesn't miss his sidelong look, the puckered expression that surely means he is weighing the idea of his own daughter going to school overseas. Possibly even in America, which clearly is not a happy hypothetical.

"So you get that big room all to yourself, or will you be assigned a new roommate?"

Laura hesitates and glances back at Carmilla. "I don't know. They should tell me before I go back, right? Maybe I can talk to Perry about picking my own roommate."

"Perry the floor don," Joseph muses to himself, trying to keep the flood of names and roles straight.

"Yeah, I'll call her after Christmas. I don't want to interrupt her holiday with silly school stuff," Laura says. "She's probably super busy baking between now and then."

There's a lull in the conversation. Laura takes the opportunity to take a longer look back, to check on Carmilla. The cat's eyes are closed, but Laura thinks she can see a sliver of gold under one lid before a muted purr starts.

* * *

As soon as the door to Laura's room closes, Carmilla leaps onto the bed and stretches out in human form, unfurling every joint.

"Isn't it easier to do that when you're a cat?" Laura pipes up with that insatiable curiosity of hers.

Carmilla answers with an exasperated puff of air and closes her eyes against the pastels of an ordinary girl's childhood bedroom. "I just spent six hours as handheld house cat for your father, cutie. Let a girl breathe." She keeps her voice a low mutter in case Mr. Hollis is lingering in the hallway.

The edge of the mattress dips and Carmilla opens her eyes.

"Vampires don't breathe."

"You're hardly an expert on the subject," Carmilla says dismissively. Her fingers find the fold of Laura's lapel and curl into the fabric. There's a increasingly familiar heartbeat under her knuckles and an all too familiar quickening. She smiles lazily. "Although I guess I could let you prove it..."

**Author's Note:**

> This was going to be longer with a giant black cat lurking on the roof of every house Laura goes to visit, but then we got the Season 2 announcement! Happy winter break, Creampuffs!


End file.
